Electrically conductive plastic materials are well known in the art. It is known, for example, that non-conductive or poorly conductive resinous materials such as organic polymers are rendered highly conductive by, for example, including a finely divided carbon or, alternatively, a copper-containing solid and a salt such as zinc chloride. Volume resistivities as low as 10.sup.-3 ohm-cm are achieved in this manner. It is also well known that such compositions can be extruded into thin layers which are useful as electrodes or capacitors and like articles in which electroconductivity is required.
The conductivity of such materials is a function of the amount of conducting particles included in it. Unfortunately, the greater the amount of conducting particles, the more brittle the resulting material. At present, unacceptable embrittlement occurs with amounts of conducting particles insufficient to produce conductivity levels high enough for many commercial applications.
On the other hand, the cost of conductive plastics is a function of the amount of conducting particles included. Thus, conductive plastics of a desired conductivity level would be less expensive, and thus suitable for a greater number of commercial applications, if the desired conductivity level could be achieved with relatively few conducting particles.